Housing minister says 'we can get a lot done' with a win in Terrebonne. Federal Liberals are throwing all they can at the Quebec riding of Terrebonne ahead of Monday's byelection, sending more than 25 MPs and members of cabinet in recent weeks to pound the pavement in what one minister is calling a "consequential" race. "We can get a...
The policy debate at the Grits' upcoming convention seems intentionally designed to avoid being a distraction from the party’s core messaging as it sits on the cusp of a majority, but it's also not time for a victory lap, say observers. As Liberals from across Canada descend on Montreal this week, observers expect the party’s national convention to be light...
China Labour Watch interviewed 50 workers at BYD facility in Hungary. As Canada lowers its tariffs and imports more electric vehicles from China, an upcoming report from New York-based labour rights researchers is making new allegations of forced labour practices at the world's bestselling EV manufacturer, BYD. China Labor Watch (CLW) received a complaint last fall from one of the...
The Canadian military is studying what kind of tanks and armoured troop carriers it will need in the future and how quickly those projects can and will be advanced, says the commander of the army. An internal presentation, delivered to a closed-door audience in the United Kingdom last winter, suggested the timelines for buying new armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) and...
- U.S. President Donald Trump pulled back on his threats to launch devastating strikes on Iran late Tuesday, as the U.S. and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire that includes the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Trump swerved to deescalate the war less than two hours before the deadline he set for Tehran to capitulate to a deal or...
The Weekly Nanos Tracking is produced by the Nanos Research Corporation, headquartered in Canada, which operates in Canada and the United States. The data is based on random interviews with 1,000 Canadian consumers (recruited by RDD land- and cell-line sample), using a four-week rolling average of 250 respondents each week, 18 years of age and over. The random sample of...
The latest Weekly Federal Tracker from Liaison Stratégies shows the Liberal Party, led by Mark Carney, maintaining a commanding 11-percentage-point lead over the Conservatives as the spring political season intensifies. The survey finds the Liberals with 44% (-1) support, followed by the Conservatives at 33% (no change) and the NDP at 9% (no change). Liaison surveyed a random sample of...
Jamieson Greer stands like Mount Olympus above the intellectual molehills of his cabinet-level colleagues, to such an extent that one worries for his welfare in the Trump administration. The U.S. Trade Representative spoke at the Hudson Institute think tank on Tuesday, and such was his coherence it was almost possible to set aside that his boss had just threatened to...
Down the street from the House of Commons, a parliamentary crisis unfolds. This drama doesn’t involve misconduct; the fate of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government doesn’t hang in the balance. Most visibly, it’s a clash between senators who believe their duty is to act — to fully study government legislation and recommend changes — and others who believe they shouldn’t...
The federal government says it will not renew funding next year for an initiative launched to help hire more diverse journalists and support those entering the screen industry. It says changes will also be coming to a program dedicated to funding projects meant to help combat online disinformation, with several millions in grants to be held back. The cuts come...
Thousands of Liberals will be in Montreal this weekend for the party's annual convention just as voters in the suburban riding of Terrebonne, about 40 km north, get ready to cast ballots in a key byelection on Monday. The nearby location is coincidental, said Marjorie Michel, the minister of health and a longtime party organizer in Quebec. But that doesn't...
There has been a lot of debate in recent weeks about the province’s decision to take over the City of Toronto’s role in the agreement governing Billy Bishop Airport and to acquire the city-owned lands at the airport. Some have asked why the province would take such a step. The answer is that Billy Bishop is a critical piece of...
I have an urgent request for Prime Minister Mark Carney: please come to Vaughan, Ont., to meet with our Jewish community. As Vaughan’s mayor, I want you to know that Jews here feel angry, scared, defiant, tired, shocked and beleaguered. Who can blame them? I’ve lived my entire life in this country, but I have never before witnessed the shocking...
Almost since its inception, the Senate of Canada has been the subject of proposals for reform. Now there are the first faint stirrings of a new movement: Senate unreform. Ten years after Justin Trudeau introduced his “merit-based, non-partisan” process for appointing senators there are whispers that the whole thing might be about to be called off. The Globe and Mail...
The dam has burst. Rigid messaging is ending. Long live the give-and-take of conversation. SUDDENLY, OUR POLITICS is all about the written and spoken word. Not so long ago, we had a prime minister who did his best to hide for weeks and an opposition leader who refused to take reporters with him on a national campaign. Now, the newish...
The most basic problem now confronting Donald Trump isn’t a matter of complex geopolitics. It’s more a simple matter of talent. The U.S. president, as much as many people hate to admit it, does have some real talents. He’s a natural showman. He’s a talented negotiator. And, as commander in chief of the world’s greatest military, he has a lot...
Donald Trump’s views on Canadian sovereignty appear to be constantly in motion, weaving back and forth like his social-media feed. Thanks to a British author, we learned this week that all the 51st-state talk is now on the back burner for two reasons: one lies in Trump’s respect for King Charles, and, maybe more significantly, the president doesn’t have enough...
If you want to understand the real tragedy of the recent NDP leadership convention, don’t just look at the winner (which I’ve done). Look at the wreckage of the coalition left behind on the convention floor. Historically, the NDP was built on a very specific, carefully balanced three-legged stool: the eco-radical hippies (your vegans and pipeline protesters), the out-of-touch champagne...
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith just can’t seem to stop satisfying her demanding, needy base with one gift after another. Public libraries, the heart of every community, are the latest to be attacked. Her government introduced legislation last week that would make it difficult for young people to get hold of what it calls “pornographic” material they think young people shouldn’t...
Canada’s finance minister was in Beijing late last week looking to deepen financial sector ties with China. Francois-Philippe Champagne said he was building on the strategic partnership deal signed between Prime Minister Mark Carney and Chinese President Xi Jinping “with eyes wide open.”
Mark Carney seemed especially keen last week to quash any speculation that he intended to shut down Parliament and deliver a new throne speech in the near future. “It has never even entered my thinking, the possibility of that,” Carney replied, when asked about the rumours, which first appeared in The Globe and Mail.
The last time a Liberal represented Terrebonne in Ottawa, Jimmy Carter was in the White House and a 9-year-old named Justin Trudeau spent his days running around the grounds at 24 Sussex. Provincially, the Liberal Party of Quebec last won it in 1973. That’s not just trivia. It tells you how unnatural this moment is.
Long before his convincing victory last week, Avi Lewis, the brand new federal New Democratic Party leader, was widely portrayed as too “radical” for the country, for his party, for the times. He would doom the NDP to further irrelevance, torpedo the electoral prospects of provincial NDP premiers and party leaders, frighten ordinary voters with his “wild-eyed” ideas and intemperate...
By the time you read this, U.S. armed forces may well have launched a ground war in Iran. Or they may have begun to withdraw from the region and go home. There could be a ceasefire, in exchange for Iran’s agreement to open the Strait of Hormuz. Or the war could have escalated further, with stepped-up U.S. attacks on Iranian...
Stephen Lewis was the greatest political orator I ever saw in my lifetime. But don’t take it from me. Listen to Martin Perelmuter, president and co-founder of Speakers Spotlight, a Toronto agency that represents a stable of Canada’s best speakers. “I’ve probably seen well over 1,000 speakers, over the past 31 years, and he’s the GOAT!” Perelmuter says, referring to...
It's a pivotal time for all three main federal political parties. Greg MacEachern, Mélanie Richer and Fred DeLorey check Canada's political pulse as the Liberals inch closer to a majority government.
Even after President Trump’s televised address on Wednesday night, the obtuseness and antagonism of the Napoleonic military geniuses in much of the world’s media think that the Iran War could be a quagmire and stalemate without a formal Iranian surrender. Trump repeated that his objectives are the permanent end of Iran’s nuclear military ambitions and of its support of terrorism...
On March 2, when Pierre Poilievre sat down for a podcast interview with former CBC anchor Peter Mansbridge, he jokingly noted that Mansbridge had called him Mr. Poilievre. “You’re the leader of his majesty’s loyal opposition,” said Mansbridge, explaining his formality.
Now that the federal New Democrats have selected Avi Lewis as their leader, Canadians know the leadership offering that they will be presented by the major parties in the next campaign. Now the race is on between the parties to try to frame the ‘ballot question’ of the next campaign – whenever that may be. But at this moment, given...
The whiff of corruption hangs over Queen’s Park. We can smell it thanks to Ontario’s freedom-of-information system. It’s this system that has exposed the Ford government to the harsh light of scrutiny and revealed all manner of meddling and shady dealings. Perhaps annoyed at having been caught in flagrante delicto so many times, Premier Doug Ford now wants to dismantle...
The outpouring of emotion and praise for Stephen Lewis on news of his death came from every quarter, and deservedly so. At each stage of his life, Stephen made an impact and touched people with his clear moral direction and unequalled rhetorical power. As Ed Murrow once said of Winston Churchill, Stephen Lewis mobilized the English language and sent it...
On Sunday, after his runaway victory in the federal New Democratic Party’s leadership race, Avi Lewis linked his own anti-Zionist views to an ancestor’s opposition to the creation of a Jewish state in the Middle East. “My great-grandfather was a leader in the [Russian anti-Zionist] Jewish Labour Bund,” said Mr. Lewis, who noted that it was founded in 1897, five...
Alberta’s new legislation limiting “ideology” in classrooms is its own type of ideological flag – which is ironic, since one of the changes proposed by Bill 25 is to prohibit, with limited exceptions, the display of all flags other than Canada’s and Alberta’s. This Bill 25 flag, also known as the “Act to Remove Politics and Ideology from Classrooms and...
Alberta separatists aren’t just enthused by the fact they have apparently surpassed the necessary 177,000 signatures to force their referendum onto ballots — they’re also celebrating when they reached the target. Stay Free Alberta claimed that accomplishment a week before a judge in Edmonton hears a First Nation’s injunction bid against the citizen’s initiative on April 7, arguing that the...
If you want to know what Alberta Premier Danielle Smith really believes, you have to listen to her when she’s amongst her fellow travellers. We were afforded that opportunity last weekend, when Smith graced the Cornerstone Forum, a confab of conspiratorial alternative media personalities, with her presence. There, she echoed suspicions that Ottawa is preparing to round up pastors for...
Aaron Gunn wants a national energy program. He’d never describe it that way, of course, but the MP for North Island-Powell River is just the latest in a long line of Conservative politicians to unintentionally argue for the revival of Pierre Trudeau’s signature energy policy. With gas prices spiking above $2 per litre in his province, Gunn tried to blame...
There’s a scene in Prime Minister, the acclaimed documentary about Jacinda Ardern, where the former New Zealand prime minister is captured in a private moment: raw, unguarded, visibly carrying the weight of leading a country through catastrophe.
One of Canada’s leading economists is warning that the country’s already historic federal deficit is on pace to top $100 billion in the next decade. University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe writes in a new study for the Montreal Economic Institute that, if current fiscal policy holds, the baseline federal deficit will grow to $117 billion by 2035.
Finance minister's partner is a VP of company running government-funded project. The Conservative Party is calling on the House of Commons ethics watchdog to launch an investigation into whether Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne breached ethics rules regarding his partner's involvement in a federal government-funded high speed rail project. In a letter to Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Konrad von...
Almost 38,000 people voted in the advance polls in three byelections that could give Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberals a majority government, with the highest advance turnout in Terrebonne. Preliminary data from Elections Canada says 18,200 people in the Quebec riding cast ballots in advance elections, which amounts to almost 20 per cent of people on the voters' list. The...
A week after the federal and Ontario governments announced they would cut the HST for new homes bought in Ontario for a year, the federal housing minister said he is in talks to expand the initiative. “We are in discussions with all of the provinces and territories about taking down the GST for one year on new home purchases,” Housing...
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer says while it’s unlikely the U.S. administration will hash out all of its trade issues with Canada and Mexico by July 1, he’s optimistic they’ll be resolved as soon as possible. “I think that we aren’t probably going to be able to resolve all issues by July 1, but I think we are on track...
Conservative MP Mike Dawson is continuing his fight against accepting the annual pay raise, and says the issue will be discussed at this month’s Commons Board of Internal Economy meeting. Meanwhile, former Liberal MP Joe Jordan says competitive salaries are critical to attract top talent to Parliament.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said leaders involved in the war in Iran must "choose their words" and act prudently, while not specifically criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump for his recent inflammatory threats of potential American military action. Trump said in a post on Tuesday that "a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again" if a deal...
Alberta Justice Minister Mickey Amery shortened the amount of time Elections Alberta has to penalize political finance violations while his friend and relative Sam Mraiche was under investigation by the regulator, a Globe and Mail investigation has found. In May, 2025, Mr. Amery pushed through a series of amendments he said would “strengthen public trust” in the integrity of the...
Prime Minister Mark Carney‘s government, keen to improve its standing in the public’s eyes when it comes to law and order issues, ordered up several taxpayer-funded polls late last year to take stock of how Canadians view their work on justice issues and identify their priorities when it comes to fighting crime.
The federal government is spending $412.9 million over five years to renew the Pacific Salmon Strategy in a plan to protect and rebuild the wild populations. Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson made the announcement in North Vancouver today, saying in a statement that the first five years of the initiative has shown what is possible when partners work together to restore...
Prime Minister Mark Carney says the federal government is looking at how to support Canadians as oil prices rise amid the ongoing war in the Middle East. Oil prices have surged since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, averaging more than $1.80 per litre across Canada today, compared with about $1.32 a year ago. Carney says his...
Hours after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to end “a whole civilization” in Iran with a deadly bombing planned today, Prime Minister Mark Carney urged “all parties” in the Middle East crisis to respect international law on war and humanitarian protections. Responding to media questions about Trump’s threat against Iran that warned “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to...
The Carney government is trying to weaken transparency rules for political fundraisers, raising concerns about secretive cash-for-access events. In a move framed as a security measure, election law reforms proposed by the government would reverse Trudeau-era requirements for Canadian political parties to give advance notice of fundraising events and make their locations public afterward.
A First Nation in Alberta will be in court today seeking to shut down a petition urging the province to quit Confederation. The Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation is in Edmonton asking a Court of King's Bench judge to suspend the petition campaign on the grounds First Nations' consent is required first. It is alleging a failure by Alberta, Canada and...
'It was a nonsensical operation from beginning to end,' national security expert says. Canadian Armed Forces members used their own personal social media accounts, computers and networks at home during the COVID-19 pandemic and gathered information about Canadians, violating intelligence-gathering rules, according to a newly released report. The internal military report obtained by CBC News provides a new look behind...
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne has been unable to participate in decisions related to the federal government’s proposed high-speed rail line after setting up an ethics screen last year due to his partner’s ties to the Crown corporation behind the project. The screen means the finance minister has had to recuse himself from all discussions related to the Alto proposal for...
Opposition Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says if he were in U.S. President Donald Trump’s shoes, he would focus the country’s efforts on ensuring Iran never develops nuclear weapons, “without getting involved in a permanent quagmire.” Poilievre gave his assessment of the unfolding U.S-Israel war against the Iranian regime on his latest podcast appearance.
Beijing is pushing Ottawa to back its bid to join a major free trade agreement between Indo-Pacific nations, including Canada, Japan and Australia, according to a Canadian senator who just returned from a diplomatic mission to China. Senator Clement Gignac, who co-chairs the Canada-China Legislative Association, said he in turn urged his Chinese counterparts to lift travel sanctions on Canadian...
Tehran has rejected the latest ceasefire proposal and wants a permanent end to the war, says Iran's state-run IRNA news agency. That report came shortly before U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his deadline of Tuesday, 8 p.m. ET for Tehran to open the Strait of Hormuz or see its power plants and other infrastructure targets attacked. In a news conference...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is striking a softer tone as his party launches a new advertising campaign aimed at affordability and national sovereignty. New Conservative ads set to begin airing Tuesday across Canada, focuses on the Liberal record since 2015 and the rising cost of food since then. The ads accuse the Liberal government of making life less affordable under...
Voters in two ridings in Ontario and one in Quebec have until the end of the day to head to advance polls in upcoming federal byelections that could give Prime Minister Mark Carney a majority government. Last month, Carney announced byelections in the two Toronto-area ridings of Scarborough Southwest and University-Rosedale and the Montreal-area riding of Terrebonne set for April...
Three Quebec cabinet ministers are throwing their support behind Bernard Drainville with less than one week to go in the race to replace outgoing Premier Francois Legault. Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette, Health Minister Sonia Belanger and Transport Minister Jonatan Julien announced today they're endorsing Drainville in the Coalition Avenir Quebec leadership race. Drainville has positioned himself as the candidate best...
Three upcoming byelections could determine not just three local contests but whether Prime Minister Mark Carney gets a majority mandate to govern until 2029.
An increasing percentage of Canadians say that they would be willing to serve in the Armed Forces if Canada were involved in a major conflict, suggests a new poll. The public opinion survey, conducted by Nanos Research for The Globe and Mail, also shows that a majority of respondents said they have a positive view of the military and would...
Iran's state-run IRNA news agency says Tehran has rejected the latest ceasefire proposal and wants a permanent end to the war. The report comes shortly before U.S. President Donald Trump's deadline for Tehran to open the Strait of Hormuz or see its power plants and bridges attacked. "We won't merely accept a ceasefire," Mojtaba Ferdousi Pour, head of the Iranian...
New polling suggests a majority of Canadians think Canada ought to explore joining the European Union at a fraught time for geopolitical relations. A survey of 4,000 people conducted by Spark Advocacy's polling arm in March found that one in four respondents thought it would be a good idea for Canada to formally join the economic and political bloc of...
Two weeks before byelection day, pollsters Nik Nanos and Quito Maggi are predicting a Liberal advantage in the riding of Terrebonne, Que. The presence of 42 independent candidates and the use of a “write-in” or “adapted ballot” could prove decisive in the tightly contested April 13 byelection in Terrebonne, Que., say some Liberal sources and pollsters, adding that a close...
Brian Masse says the law needed to be modernized — but more regulation is needed. The former MP who spent more than a decade pushing to legalize single-event sports betting says he doesn't regret it — but says its implementation is in some ways "sad" and "deplorable." He also says more regulation is required to curb the volume and methods...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The president who yearned for a Nobel Peace Prize and once reveled in the appearance of solving conflicts has turned to the language of annihilation as he struggles to find a resolution to his war of choice in Iran.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Democrats hoped to increase liberal control of the state Supreme Court in Wisconsin on Tuesday in an election that has focused largely on abortion rights as cases affecting congressional redistricting, union rights and other hot button issues also await in the perennial battleground state.
ATLANTA (AP) -- Republican Clay Fuller will try to close the deal with Georgia voters on Tuesday to succeed Marjorie Taylor Greene in Congress, while Democrat Shawn Harris seeks an upset.
NEW YORK (AP) -- As a Kennedy scion, Jack Schlossberg got outsized attention when he launched his congressional campaign in New York City late last year.
- U.S. President Donald Trump pulled back on his threats to launch devastating strikes on Iran late Tuesday, as the U.S. and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire that includes the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Trump swerved to deescalate the war less than two hours before the deadline he set for Tehran to capitulate to a deal or...
Prime Minister Mark Carney said leaders involved in the war in Iran must "choose their words" and act prudently, while not specifically criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump for his recent inflammatory threats of potential American military action. Trump said in a post on Tuesday that "a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again" if a deal...
Hours after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to end “a whole civilization” in Iran with a deadly bombing planned today, Prime Minister Mark Carney urged “all parties” in the Middle East crisis to respect international law on war and humanitarian protections. Responding to media questions about Trump’s threat against Iran that warned “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to...
Tehran has rejected the latest ceasefire proposal and wants a permanent end to the war, says Iran's state-run IRNA news agency. That report came shortly before U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his deadline of Tuesday, 8 p.m. ET for Tehran to open the Strait of Hormuz or see its power plants and other infrastructure targets attacked. In a news conference...
Iran's state-run IRNA news agency says Tehran has rejected the latest ceasefire proposal and wants a permanent end to the war. The report comes shortly before U.S. President Donald Trump's deadline for Tehran to open the Strait of Hormuz or see its power plants and bridges attacked. "We won't merely accept a ceasefire," Mojtaba Ferdousi Pour, head of the Iranian...
The controversy around Liberal MP Michael Ma’s comments on forced labour in China is an early test of how Prime Minister Mark Carney’s China policy is being put into practice — and whether it can remain pragmatic without drifting into equivocation, accommodation or self-censorship. Carney’s recalibration — toward a more interest-based approach aimed at stabilizing ties with Beijing while widening...
A collection of SubStack publishing within Canadian public affairs.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office wants to bust up a monopoly. I think I’m the target. Let me explain. The Privy Council Office (PCO), home of the prime minister and cabinet, has been flooded with complaints about its failures to comply with the Access to Information Act.
Canadian troops may be only days away from deploying to the Middle East to aid the U.S.’s and Israel’s war on Iran. The latest indication is a joint statement expressing concern about Iran’s restriction of oil tankers through the narrow Strait of Hormuz signed by Prime Minister Mark Carney and NATO allies late in the week.
Canadians who have neglected to pay their taxes to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) have been coming forward in droves to take advantage of new amnesty rules.
More than a year after US President Trump curated what he believed was the perfect Cabinet, he's done away with two major figures within his administration, the latest being Attorney General, Pam Bondi. She was recently ousted and moved to what Trump calls an 'important' role in the private sector.
Donald Trump has often said he's a fan of King Charles, and Charles, about to embark on a visit to the United States, clearly feels something for Trump. So how does Canada fit into this? A new book suggests Charles has had an impression on making Trump back off his annex Canada plans. If you buy that then you better...
We've entered the sixth week of the Iran war, and despite threats and counter threats, talks of ceasefires, there's still no end in sight. Is anyone winning this war? Dr. Janice Stein joins us again for her regular Monday talk about our changing world.
